Kiran Pandey author page
3 puzzles by Kiran Pandey
with Constructor comments
| L | A | D | Y | S | H | I | V | A | H | A | L | T | ||
| E | I | R | E | T | I | M | I | D | I | S | A | W | ||
| G | R | E | A | S | E | F | I | R | E | P | I | N | E | |
| A | H | A | T | A | I | N | T | S | P | A | D | E | ||
| T | O | M | Y | U | M | U | P | T | I | G | H | T | ||
| O | R | S | O | Y | O | M | O | R | E | O | O | S | ||
| N | O | U | N | P | A | U | L | O | ||||||
| F | R | O | Z | E | N | S | O | L | I | D | ||||
| B | I | N | G | E | L | O | O | K | ||||||
| D | V | D | S | E | T | A | S | P | W | O | W | S | ||
| M | O | O | N | L | I | T | A | R | A | R | A | T | ||
| A | L | O | E | S | A | T | A | R | I | D | N | A | ||
| J | U | D | E | D | R | I | V | E | C | R | A | Z | Y | |
| O | M | A | R | M | O | R | O | N | E | S | A | U | ||
| R | E | D | S | S | T | E | N | T | C | H | A | P |
| B | O | M | B | G | Y | M | K | A | N | S | A | S | ||
| Z | H | A | O | L | E | A | A | R | E | O | L | A | ||
| Z | I | L | L | I | O | N | S | H | I | T | M | A | N | |
| T | O | L | E | D | O | O | I | L | E | N | D | |||
| R | O | M | A | N | N | U | M | E | R | A | L | |||
| S | T | O | L | I | D | T | A | I | L | S | ||||
| W | A | H | E | M | I | R | F | L | A | P | S | |||
| E | L | E | C | T | R | I | C | A | L | F | A | U | L | T |
| B | E | L | O | W | T | U | N | A | L | I | U | |||
| O | D | I | S | T | E | S | T | A | T | E | ||||
| S | E | V | E | N | L | E | T | T | E | R | S | |||
| T | A | E | A | D | O | R | O | C | K | E | T | |||
| U | P | B | E | A | T | A | N | C | I | E | N | T | S | |
| D | O | U | G | I | E | S | O | U | N | E | N | A | ||
| Y | E | G | O | D | S | T | N | T | D | E | A | R |
This puzzle is inspired by the crosswords of Tom McCoy, whose linguistic wit and formal innovation serve as constant inspiration for what a puzzle can hope to achieve. If you're a newer solver, I highly recommend perusing the archive for his puzzles, in particular this one and this one.
| C | H | A | O | S | P | A | N | S | T | R | A | P | ||
| H | I | N | D | U | S | L | O | W | H | O | M | E | ||
| A | L | I | E | N | V | S | P | R | E | D | A | T | O | R |
| I | L | L | D | I | T | A | U | T | I | S | M | |||
| E | R | A | F | E | R | N | S | |||||||
| G | O | D | Z | I | L | L | A | V | S | K | O | N | G | |
| A | Z | U | R | E | U | N | I | T | G | R | R | |||
| P | A | R | A | D | O | X | C | O | T | E | R | I | E | |
| E | R | E | P | U | T | T | O | B | A | M | A | |||
| K | R | A | M | E | R | V | S | K | R | A | M | E | R | |
| V | A | N | Y | A | A | N | Y | |||||||
| A | F | F | I | R | M | S | T | D | S | O | B | |||
| B | R | E | A | K | I | T | U | P | Y | O | U | T | W | O |
| E | A | S | T | N | O | S | E | W | I | E | L | D | ||
| L | U | T | E | D | M | E | D | N | E | W | S | Y |
I'm thrilled to make my New York Times debut! I am endlessly thankful for the support and for the test-solving of friends and family along the way. Special thanks are owed to my mom, the first person to solve this puzzle, and to my sister Naya, with whom I spent many a pandemic evening agonizing over a Saturday grid.
This puzzle started as many do — by noticing a fun pattern and wondering how one might construct a grid around it. The pool of "versus" movies is small and strange, split between legal drama and sci-fi/horror camp (see also: "Freddy vs. Jason"). The latter genre comes highly recommended if you're looking for some B-movie fun, but only after you've seen the original "King Kong" and "Alien."
Thanks for solving!